System and method of electronic and physical mail categorization and targeted delivery

ABSTRACT

Embodiments include systems and methods of a service that allows hard copy and electronic media customers to proactively specify, across a broad range of categories, the hard copy mail and/or electronic media mail that they would or would not like to receive. Embodiments include methods and systems configured to allow customers of delivery services to customize the flow of physical items such as hard copy or other letters or parcels, for delivery or electronic media mail from mailers based on highly specific customer-designated criteria. The delivery service acts as a trusted third party to serve as the intermediary between the recipient of the items and mailers to provide privacy and manage a repository for a customer-selected criteria database. In addition, one embodiment provides verification and/or identification that mail being sent meets the customer&#39;s designated criteria.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/179,442, filed Jul. 8, 2011, which claims the benefit of and priorityto U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/399,279, filed Jul. 9, 2010, theentire contents of which are hereby incorporated in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present application relates to methods and systems for delivery ofmail and other packages.

Description of the Related Technology

Mail customers are finding ways to control what they receive or whatthey would like to receive within both their physical mailbox and theirelectronic mailbox. For example, by supporting “Do Not Mail Initiatives”recipients can block generic types of mail from being delivered; andwith “Spam Filters”, email recipients can block receipt of specificemails on a case by case basis. However, a need exists for systems thatcan integrate such preferences across the various types of media.

SUMMARY OF CERTAIN INVENTIVE ASPECTS

The system, method, and devices of the embodiments each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of the disclosed invention(s) asexpressed by the claims which follow, its more prominent features willnow be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, andparticularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description ofCertain Embodiments” one will understand how the features of theinvention(s) provide advantages that include improved recipient controlover delivery of physical items such as mail and packages and/orelectronic mail delivery.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating systems for delivering electronicand physical communications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example mail item addressed to a virtualaddress.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method ofdelivering an item based on a virtual address.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of establishingrecipient delivery preferences.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method ofdelivering an item based on recipient preferences.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of another method ofdelivering an item based on recipient preferences.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of another method ofdelivering an item based on an address list.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description is directed to certain specificembodiments. However, the invention(s) disclosed herein can be embodiedin a multitude of different ways as defined and covered by the claims.In this description, reference is made to the drawings wherein likeparts are designated with like numerals throughout.

Reference to the term “mail” or “media” includes letters, media, cards,periodicals, correspondence, packages and other items that are handledand distributed in or by a delivery system, including an electronicdelivery system, and the terms are used interchangeably herein.

Many existing systems that provide control of hard copy or electronicdelivery of advertising and other types of targeted email, providelimited “all or nothing” options for recipients. Moreover, such systemsare typically implemented ad hoc, on a per mailer basis, therebyrequiring substantial overhead for recipients to express theirpreferences.

A service that allows hard copy and electronic media customers toproactively specify, across a broad range of categories, the hard copyand/or electronic media or mail that they would or would not like toreceive is hence desirable. In particular, a need exists to assistcustomers by providing a valuable new service to address thecustomization and directing of both hard copy and electronic media mailbetween recipients and mailers. Moreover, a need exists for suchservices to be provided while maintaining customer privacy. Embodimentsdisclosed herein can be configured to provide such features.

Embodiments include methods and systems configured to allow postalcustomers or customers of other delivery services to customize the flowof mail for delivery based on highly specific, customer-designatedcriteria. These mail items include physical items such as hard copy orother letters or parcels for delivery, or electronic media from mailers.Delivery services, such as the United States Postal Service, act as atrusted third party to serve as the intermediary between the recipientof the items and mailers in order to provide privacy and to manage arepository for a customer-selected criteria database. In addition,embodiments can provide verification and/or identification that mailbeing sent meets the customer's designated criteria. Embodiments canallow mailers to send any item at their discretion but provide theparticipating mailers with the specific information about what mailcustomers do and do not want to receive. Embodiments can also providecustomers a designation/identification option to ensure that mail theyare receiving meets the criteria they designate. Embodiments can alsoprovide an added-value to customers by allowing customers to providesuch preferences while ensuring the customers privacy. Embodiments alsocan provide customers value added features such as expressing acharacteristic or personality through the implementation of virtualvanity addresses.

Currently, in the electronic media arena, businesses send or presentelectronic communication/information to customers in an electronicformat through their Internet providers as email or via other electronicmedia mail processes. The recipients of these messages have limitedcapability to proactively identify and/or eliminate what they determineto be spam, phishing or other undesired or malevolent correspondence.Further, the recipients do not have the capability of identifying andsetting preferences as to what they would like to receive within thatelectronic mailbox or via electronic media.

These same principles apply to the physical mailbox where customers mayhave preferences regarding receipt of various categories of advertisingmaterials based on not having an interest in the subject, environmentalreasons for wishing to reduce paper consumption and landfill usage, or amultitude of other reasons. When using mail or express mail, unlike withelectronic mail, customers do not have an easy methodology forestablishing mail receipt preferences without having their physical orpostal mailing address identified.

Voluntary repositories of physical mail delivery preferences exist, suchas those provided by the Direct Mail Marketing Association. However,participation by mailing entities in these repositories has tended to bevoluntary, which can therefore lead to frustration for customers whoreceive unwanted materials from non-participating mailers. Moreover,customers may have privacy concerns about registering their name andmailing address with such often untrusted repositories.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system 100 for electronic andphysical mail categorization and targeted delivery. The system 100includes a preferences manager 102 that receives input from a customerinterface 104 to manage a preferences database 106. A deliverymanagement service 108 provides access to the database 106, as well asto other delivery management functions as disclosed herein, to a mailprocessing system 110. The mail processing system 110 includes mailsorting, processing, labeling, and other mail processing equipment,which may be located at one or more mail processing facilities, toeffectuate mail delivery preferences. The delivery management service108 may be co-located with, or in communication with via a datacommunications network, the mail processing system 110.

In one embodiment, the delivery management service 108 communicates witha network 112, such as the Internet or other electronic communicationsnetwork, to receive electronic communications 114 for management by thedelivery management service 108. In one embodiment disclosed herein, theelectronic communications 114 comprise e-mail messages. However, in someembodiments, the electronic communications may include, for example,e-mail, text messages, SMS messages, chat messages via protocols such asICQ, Yahoo messenger, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, or Jabber. Moreover, insome embodiments, electronic communications may include advertisementsaccessed by customers via a web browser, for example, banner ads and/orpop-ups, or via any other electronic medium.

It is to be recognized that the system 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1depicts components for performing a number of functions describedherein. However, embodiments may perform less than all such functions.Accordingly, embodiments of the system 100 may include some or all ofthe illustrated components as is apparent to one of skill in the art inview of the disclosure herein.

The preference management system 102 comprises a processor, which, forexample, is embodied as a computer server and associated software. Thepreference management system 102 may communicate with the customerinterface 104 by a public or private communications interface. Thepreference management system 102 receives message and item deliverypreferences from the customer interface 104 and stores data indicativeof the preferences to the database 106.

The customer interface 104 comprises one or more of a kiosk located in apublic facility, software executed by an electronic device of thecustomer, such as a personal computer, mobile telephone, or othercommunications enabled device, or a web based interface provided via aweb browser associated with an electronic device of the customer andcommunicated by a public network, for example a global communicationsnetwork such as the world wide web.

The delivery management service 108 provides an interface to thepreferences database 106 and instructs the mail processing system 110 ondelivery of mail items based on the information provided by the database106. In one embodiment, the delivery management service 108 may controldelivery of electronic communications 114, either directly via relatedelectronic communications servers, or indirectly by providing deliveryinformation to any suitable system for delivering the electroniccommunications 114. In one embodiment, the delivery management service108 comprises a processor, which, for example, is embodied as a computerserver and associated software.

Desirably, in one embodiment, the database 106 provides a deliverydatabase that associates one or more types of data. For example, in oneembodiment, the database 106 provides data to enable customers to definepreferences indicative of what hardcopy or electronic media mail thatthey do/do not want to receive. For example, the database may store dataindicative of customer preferences related to receiving hard copy and/orelectronic communications such as e-mail on a variety of general tospecific topics, categories and subjects. In addition, the database 106may store data indicative of general or specific topics, categories andsubjects from which customers do not want to receive mail. Customers maythus communicate their desires to receive specific types of by specificcategories, characteristics, classes, or other features via the customerinterface 104.

In one embodiment, customers can configure the delivery managementsystem 108 to provide a specific designation to physical or electroniccommunications that indicates that the particular item has been vettedand is provided in accordance with the customers' preferences via thedelivery management system 108.

In one embodiment, the database 106 stores data indicative of thecustomer in the form of a hash value indicative of the physical ormailing address of the customer. The database 106 relates this hashvalue with the customer preference data and other customer related data.The hash value may comprises a cryptographic hash value such as a SHA-1hash. The database 106 may comprise computer readable medium having theherein described data stored thereon. In one embodiment, the database106 may further comprise a processor and/or database management softwaresuch as a relational database server to manage and provide a searchableinterface to the data stored on the computer readable medium.

In one such embodiment, the database 106 relates only non-identifyingdata with the hash value. Desirably, the database 106 can thus be sharedwith mailers or can be otherwise distributed without providing customeraddresses and other identifying information because the otherinformation is only provided when the correct information needed togenerate the stored hash value is submitted. Copies can be provided toany delivery and/or emergency services for mapping the virtual addressesto physical addresses as needed. In one embodiment, the deliverymanagement service 108 is configured to provide address data for avirtual address via an electronic interface. In one such embodiment, thedelivery management service 108 may be configured to communicate accessdata to a billing or other account management system where free accessis undesirable such as in response to high volume commercial mailerinquiries.

For example, copies of the database 106 can be distributed to physicalor electronic mailers to enable the mailers to access information inorder to know customer mailing preferences based on the criteriadesignated by the recipient. This is done without providing a list ofactual customer names and/or addresses. Participating mailers can beprovided authorization to provide communications to customers via one orboth of physical or electronic methodologies that are identified asbeing in accordance with the preferences in the database 106 and henceare more desirable for the customer to view. Such identification andauthorization may be provided via electronic signatures or othersuitable cryptographic authentication techniques. Electroniccommunications such as e-mail, headers or other metadata can includeelectronic signature data to authenticate the communication as being inaccordance with the customer's preferences stored in the database 106.Physical communications may be labeled via the sender or via a postmarkor other validating indicia provided during delivery by the deliveryservice, such as by the United States Postal Service, for example.

A “virtual address” or “vanity address” is arbitrary character datadefined by a mail recipient that is other than a physical address ormailing address of the customer. Desirably, customers may create avirtual/vanity address for use in lieu of their mailing or physicaladdress via the customer interface 102.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example mail item 150 addressed to avirtual address 152. In the example, the virtual address includes therecipient's name, city, and state and virtual address portion“Intelligent Male.” However, in other embodiments, some, or all, of thename, city, and/or state portions would not be included or is optional.

It is to be recognized that while FIG. 2 illustrates a mailing envelope,the item 150 may comprise any type of mailer, card, or other mail itemincluding any suitable flat or parcel. In addition, in one embodiment,the system 100 may be configured to process electronic messages havingan electronic implementation of the virtual address. For example, in oneembodiment, the virtual address may be applied to a selected manageddomain (Stephen_Dearing_Intelligent_Male@usps.com), which is recognizedand either provided to the customer if they have opted for USPS domainor redirected to the email address(es) as identified through thecustomer profile. Virtual Addressing could be shared through licensedlink technology (SHA to SHA) to 3rd parties in need of this information.For example, the virtual address service includes delivery and/oremergency services where need of the physical location is necessary.This methodology only provides the other information when the correctinformation is submitted and therefore privacy is maintained.

In one embodiment, the preference management service 102 is configuredto prevent definition/registration of duplicate virtual addresses bycustomers. The preference management service 102 may also be configuredto do things such as: reserve specified ‘candidate’ virtual addressesfor premium use; either restrict or effectively manage common names suchas ‘Robert Johnson’ or ‘Mary Smith’ (Robert Johnson1, Robert Johnson2,etc.); and reserve ‘likely’ requests for virtual addresses such asregistered trademarks or other terms anticipated to have high demand.The preference management service 102 may also be configured to managethe ‘selling’ or other distribution of previous assigned virtualaddresses to a new customer via mutual agreement. The preferencemanagement service 102 may charge a percentage or fee for thetransaction going to the USPS or other delivery service for oversightand management.

The preference management service 102 may also be configured to restrictuse of profanity, obscenity, vulgarity, or other controversial oroffensive terms. In addition, the preference management service 102 maybe configured to manage ‘expired’ virtual addresses to convert suchaddresses, for example, via a mail forwarding mechanism, back to mailingor physical addresses or to instruct the delivery management system 108to provide an ‘Undeliverable’ indication for items addressed to suchexpired addresses. The preference management service 102 may also beconfigured to allow customers of virtual addresses or other preferenceservices to ‘opt’ in for additional physical mail security such asdetection and irradiation as a delivery option.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method 300 ofdelivering the item 150 based on the virtual address 152. The method 300begins at a block 302 in which the mail processing system 110 receivesdata indicative of addressing information from a source associated withthe item to be delivered. In one embodiment, the addressing informationcomprises one or more of a name, virtual address, and a city and/orstate. The addressing information may be received via an opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) device, a barcode reader, or any othersuitable electronic reading device, including manually entered data froman input device when, for example, the information on the item is notelectronically legible. In some embodiments, if the address informationon the item is unable to be processed, for example, if the mailprocessing system 110 is unable to read the addressing information or ifno address, virtual or otherwise, matches, an operator may manually keyin the addressing information.

Next at a block 304, the mail processing system 110, or optionally, thedelivery management service 108, generates a hash value based on thereceived addressing information data. In one embodiment, generating thehash value comprises generating a cryptographic hash. Generating thecryptographic hash may comprise performing a “Secure Hash Algorithm”(SHA), e.g., a SHA-1, SHA-2, etc. hash.

Moving to a block 306, the delivery management service 108, in responseto a query from the mail processing system 110, searches for the hashvalue in a copy of the database 106 that associates at least one hashvalue indicative of character data such as a virtual address 152, with adelivery address associated with the character data. A master copy ofthe database 106 may be accessed or the instance of the deliverymanagement service 110 may have a distributed copy of the virtualaddress information from the database 106. Next at a block 308, adelivery address for the item is identified based on the information inthe database 106 for the item 150 as a result of the searching. Thedelivery address may be a physical address or a mailing address such asa postal box.

Proceeding to a block 310, the mail processing system 110 applies anindicia of the delivery address to the item 150. The indicia of theaddress may comprise a text address or a barcode. In one embodiment, theindicia comprises an Intelligent Mail® (trademark of the US PostalService) Barcode which is a barcode that comprises informationindicative of delivery point routing. In one embodiment, such barcodesfurther comprise indicia such that if an item were undeliverable, theitem is destroyed rather than returned to sender so as to maintain theprivacy of the actual delivery address by preventing the return of theaddressed item. The indicia may be applied via any suitable mechanismincluding application of a forwarding label such as is employed by mailforwarding systems.

As noted above, the database 106 can also store mail preferences, bothelectronic and physical, of customers based on a hash value of thecustomer's specified address. Such hash values may also comprise acryptographic hash. The database 106 relates the cryptographic hash witha delivery address.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method 400 ofestablishing recipient delivery preferences in the database 106. Themethod begins at a block 402 in which the preference management service102 receives data indicative of subject matter categories of electronicor hardcopy communications. Such categories can be used by the deliverymanagement service 108 to direct delivery of communications according tothe recipients stored preferences in the database 106.

In one embodiment, mail categories are relationally tiered. For example,the categories may comprise a selection of generalized major top-levelcategories, where all the sub-categories are inclusive, or to specify inmore detail the sub-categories. The mail categories may be establishedand defined by the general consumer and/or managed by the deliveryservice, for example, the USPS. In one embodiment, users may postsuggestions for categories via the customer interface 104. In one suchembodiment, a consensus type process may thus be established thatincorporates customer input and changes into the mail categorizationdatabase. Mailers may also provide input to help establish categoriesthat can be readily determined by the mail.

As an example of the category development process and category databasestructure, a Customer A defines a major category of ‘Food’ and defines‘Fast Food’ as a sub-category of ‘Food.’ Consensus received via thecustomer interface 104 provides acceptance of this request, and thechange is incorporated into the database and therefore reflected in thecustomer profile application. In another example, Customer B defines amajor category of ‘Restaurants’ and defines a sub-category of ‘FastFood.’ The consensus established via users through the customerinterface 104 provides acceptance of this request, and the change isincorporated into the database. Customers may subsequently reflect thecategorization in their profile. For example, customers who haveselected ‘Fast Food’ in their profile would now be associated with‘Food’—‘Fast Food’ and ‘Restaurants’—‘Fast Food’.

In one embodiment, the management of the mail categorization informationis structured by use of a logical and relational directory structure.For example, a unique set of IDs is assigned to major categories. Thesubcategories under the major categories then have a unique set of IDs‘under’ and related to the major category and so on and so forth foreach subcategory underneath. For example; the major category of ‘Food’might have an ID of 12345, and the subcategory of ‘Fast Food’ might havean ID under 98765. If a customer were to select the major category of‘Food’ for advertisement and/or media as being preferred to be receivedby the customer, the major ID of 12345 would represent all subcategories‘underneath’ and be considered primary. If the customer were to select‘Fast Food’ that falls underneath ‘Food’, the new ID value becomes1234598765 relating the major category to the subcategory. In the latterexample, the major category no longer applies and the next level ofsubcategory becomes primary.

Moving to a block 404, the preference management system 102 receivesdata identifying a customer and delivery address from the customerinterface 104. In one embodiment, customer profiles are per person or adefined group of persons at a particular address. In another embodiment,customer profiles are at the address level (and apply to addressees atthat address) as, for example, assigned by the USPS or other deliveryservice.

To establish a profile, a customer's credentials may be established viaany suitable system or method. For example, the preference managementsystem 102 may be configured to validate customer credentials through acombination of bank card (credit or debit) validation and/or hardcopyletter verification similar to that employed by the USPS for movevalidation letters used in the change of address process. Followinginitial establishment of the customer's credentials, the customer may beassigned a unique user identification and password to subsequentlyaccess the service 102. In one embodiment, a unique system identifiermay also be established for the customer for use, for example, inrelating information in the database 106.

Subsequent to establishing a user name to log into the service 102, thecustomer may set up a basic profile such as Name, Physical Address,Mailing Address, City, State, ZIP Code, Phone*, email-1*, email-2*,email-3*, etc. In addition, the customer may establish the scope of theprofile, such as the individual, other specified household members,and/or the entire address, along with whether the profile is to apply tophysical mail and/or electronic communications. The preferencemanagement system 102 may also assign an indicator of the selectedprofile type.

In one embodiment, the preference management system 102 may also receiveand store virtual address information as part the user name establishedfor mail preference information. The preference management system 102may also provide additional services to registered users such as theability to generate electronic postage. Other postal delivery optionssuch as optional irradiation or other processing of mail may also beselected via the customer interface 104 to the preference managementsystem 102.

In one embodiment, the delivery management service 108 may also beconfigured to provide a gateway from physical mail to electronic mailand from electronic mail to physical mail. For example, in oneembodiment, based on profile preference data, the delivery managementservice 108 is configured to receive electronic communications, identifyparticular electronic communications based on preferences from thedatabase 106 for the recipient, and selectively generate and instructdelivery of hardcopy to the recipient. Hence, a customer who was unableto receive hardcopy delivery of a physical mailing, for example, due tohis or her physical condition or other reasons, is able to receiveelectronic communications. Further, by using the selectivity provided bythe database 106, such conversion can be performed automatically withreduced likelihood of overwhelming the customer.

In one embodiment, preference management system 102 may identifyhardcopy communications that are to be converted into electroniccommunications. Once identified, the communications are sent to theprovided email or other electronic address. Desirably, customers who areaway from home are able to receive important communications which maybedetermined by postal class and size or weight. For example, only smallfirst class mail communications may be converted. Hence, the option maybe set to email only such that hardcopy mail is redirected to a processthat opens the mail, scans the contents, and converts it to electronicmedia for sending to the recipient via their service provider. Emailsprovided to the customer through this feature of the delivery managementservice 108, in one embodiment, receive an electronic Postmark with anacknowledgement or receipt optionally sent back to the sender. In oneembodiment, a profile of the sender may be identified such that suchreceipt is sent electronically to an email address identified by thesender's preference account. The delivery management service 108 may befurther configured to communicate with email service providers thatparticipate in the system 100. The communication would provide, for eachmailing and to each sending customer, information confirming that themailing was processed through the system 100 and optionally identifyingthe delivery service, such as the USPS.

If the option is set to hardcopy only, any intended emails are convertedto hardcopy mail at the closest managed mail generating facility, theappropriate postage is applied, and funds are deducted from therecipients account. The hardcopy communications may be optionallytracked, for example, via an Intelligent Mail® Barcode applied to thehardcopy. If the option is set to ‘both’, an additional option isprovided to manage the receipt of the information. For example, in oneembodiment the option includes a time frame for acknowledgement or‘receipt’ of the electronic communication. If the ‘receipt is notreceived within the set time frame, an option for a hardcopy mail pieceto be generated and sent to the mailing address with an IntelligentMail® Barcode that enables physical tracking is provided.

Moreover, while the above discussion includes establishment of acustomer profile in the database 106 via the preference managementsystem 102, it is to be recognized the customer interface 104 may alsobe used to subsequently update profile information via the preferencemanagement system 102.

As discussed above, the customer may use the customer interface 104 todefine mail, including advertisements, and/or media preference based onthe received subject matter categories. In one embodiment, the customermay also define geographical preferences such as ‘Local’, ‘Regional’,‘National’ and/or ‘International.’ The geographical preferences may bedefined for each mail category or subcategory, for each recipientcovered by the profile, and/or globally for the profile. In oneembodiment, the geographic preferences are based on the originatingcompany location. If no preference is set for this feature, the defaultis ‘All’.

In one embodiment, the database 106 may comprise a relationalgeographical reference database which is used to share this informationwith various industry partners such as mailers using the system 100. Inone embodiment, the geographical reference database uses thegeo-coordinates of a postal facility that has responsibility for theCity, State and/or ZIP Code and applies a mileage parameter based on thecustomer profile to determine what the customer considers their local orregional territory. All City, State, and or ZIP Codes associated withthe postal facilities that fall within the radius set by customerpreference may apply and relate to the originating company's location(City, State, and/or ZIP Code). The geographical reference informationmay be further defined by radially distant regions defined based on thephysical address in the customer profile. In one embodiment, a customercan select any other defining parameter for use in determining what acustomer considers their local or regional territory. A local orregional territory may be determined, for example, using a parameterassociated with a geographic region. Such a geographic region associatedwith a parameter may be contiguous or non-contiguous, and may include,for example, a governmentally defined region such as a county, state, orcountry, a communication region such as a zip code, IP address, or areacode, or any other regional designation. The “National” preference may,for example, encompass the US and its territories and the“International” preference may be everything outside of the US and itsterritories. The geographical delivery preferences may be configured toapply to hardcopy and/or email.

Moving to a block 408, the customers preferences are stored in thedatabase 106 using the hash value of the selected address to map to thepreferences for that address. Additional indices, for example, betweenuser login and preferences, may also be stored in the database 106.

Next, at a block 410, the preference management system 102 receives dataidentifying a mailer and mailer preferences for sending mail to beprocessed according to customer profiles. In one embodiment, mailersparticipate in the process through a portion of the customer interface102 or other suitable interface. Similar to recipients, the mailerestablishes and uses a login via web site or retail kiosk and providesbase profile information such as Company Name, Physical Address, MailingAddress, City, State, ZIP Code, Phone*, email-1*, email-2*, email-3*,etc. Mailer credentials may be established and validated through acombination of bank card, credit or debit, validation and/or hardcopyletter verification similar to the move validation letters used in thechange of address process. Similar to recipients, mailers are assigneduser IDs and passwords and unique IDs by the system 100. In addition,mailers profiles in the database 106 include indicators, selections ofcategories, of the type of advertisement and/or communications they sendvia the system 100. The mailer profile may further include all City,State, and/or ZIP Codes in which the mailer conducts business in orderto provide geographical related preference selectivity to recipients ofcommunications from the mailer. Electronic postage and postage charges,including those incurred through participation in the system 100, may beprovided via the user account of the mailer. In one embodiment, themailer may be assigned a unique ID from the system 100 that may be usedin communication/media to provide customers/recipients the ability toreport misuse or to effect an ‘opt out’ option from communications ofthe mailer.

Moving to a block 410, information in the stored profile database 106 isdistributed. In some embodiments, information stored in the profiledatabase 106 is distributed via transmission of information, and on someembodiments, information stored in the profile database 106 isdistributed by providing database access. In one embodiment, the portionof the database comprising the hash values along with theircorresponding category and/or geographic preferences is distributed toparticipating email service providers and/or via an email serviceprovided, for example by the delivery management service 108 forfiltering, identification and mail management. In one embodiment,filtering includes blocking messages that do not contain matching hashvalues. In one embodiment, identification includes identifying matchinghash values as being associated with the system 100 through the deliverymanagement service 108 and providing such an indication to therecipient. In one embodiment, mail management includes processingreturn, read, opened and similar type receipts.

In one embodiment, the portion of the database 106 comprising the hashvalues, customer category and geographic preference profile informationis provided to subscribing mailers to enable them to identify thecustomers in their database that want to receive a particular mailingbased on mail category. The mailer may use the hash value to probe thisportion of the database 106 such that if the hash value matches, themailer can mail items to the customer knowing the customer has indicatedthat they desire to receive such mail. Incentives can be structured toprovide rate discounts for matches, certification for demonstratedperformance in suppression of mail where there is no match, and/or othermethods to ensure compliance. Moreover, non-compliant mailers may haveprivileges and access to the database 106 revoked.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method 500 ofdelivering an item based on recipient preferences stored in the database106. The method 500 begins at a block 502 in which the deliverymanagement service 108, via a reader, such as OCR or a barcode reader,of the mail processing system 100, receives data via the readerindicative of addressing information from an item to be delivered. Inone embodiment, the addressing information comprises the mailing addressand, optionally, the recipient name. Moving to a block 504, the deliverymanagement service 108 generates a hash value, for example, acryptographic hash, indicative of the received address data. Thedelivery management service 108 may generate a hash for the addressincluding the recipient and a hash for the address without therecipient.

Proceeding to a block 506, the delivery management service 108 searchesfor the hash value, or hash values of the addressing information withand without the addressee, in the database 106. Next at a block 510, thedelivery management service 108 identifies delivery preferenceinformation for the item based on the searching of the database 106.

Proceeding to the block 512, the delivery management service 108provides delivery instructions for the item based on the identifieddelivery preference information. In one embodiment, the instructions arebased on a comparison of geographic data associated with a sender of theitem against the recipient's identified preferences. In one embodiment,one or more categories associated with the item are compared tocategories of the recipient's identified preferences to determine thedelivery instructions. In one embodiment, the sender and the associatedaddress is determined based on a return address that may also be read bythe mail processing system 100 along with the addressing information forthe item. In this embodiment, this sender address information is used toapply the recipient's geographic preferences. In one embodiment,categories for non-participating mailers are determined based on thedetermined sender based on categories for that sender's communicationsthat are provided by recipients.

In the case of participating mailers, the mailers' profile may beobtained by generating a hash value for a return address of the item, orit may be obtained directly from an additional endorsement or barcodeprovided on the item by the mailer. The category for the item may thenbe determined based on information in the mailers' profile, for example,global categories for all mail pieces from that mailer, or a particularprofile of the mailer used on the particular mail piece. The categorymay also be determined based on additional category information that themailer provides on the item such as part of the barcode, for example, anIntelligent Mail® Barcode, that includes, or is additional to, the hashvalue.

In one embodiment, the delivery management service 108 is configured toprovide an interface to direct marketers. The service 108 provides aportion of the database 106 comprising hash values representingindividual customer preferences based on mail categorization andcustomer profile to mailers for their desired target market. Desirably,only the non-identifying hash value is provided to the mailer so as tomaintain the privacy of the customers and their profiles. The respectivehash value of each recipient is included in the email and/or electroniccorrespondence to an email server associated with the deliverymanagement service 108. These hash values may also be placed directly onmail pieces or contained within an Intelligent Mail® Barcode andpresented for acceptance to the delivery service, for example the USPS,via the mail processing system 110. After acceptance, a portion of themail processing system 110 reads the hash value or barcode, matches itto the correlating customer information, and applies the appropriatedelivery address information. Additional features such as automatedbilling, delivery summary information, and mail performance may beprovided for the mailer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method ofdelivering an item addressed with a hash value from a direct marketer.In particular, at a block 602, delivery management service 108 and/ormail processing system 110 reads the hash value, as text or a barcode,associated with the mail item. Next at a block 606, the deliverymanagement service 108 matches the hash value to the respective customerprofile information. Moving to a block 608, the delivery managementservice 108 identifies a mailing address from the matched customerprofile. Proceeding to a block 610, the mail processing system 110redirects to the correlating customers based on the preferences set intheir profile by applying indicia of the delivery address to the item.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustration of one embodiment of a method ofdelivering an item based on an owner's existing address list. To makeuse of the virtual or hashed addresses, an owner of an address listfirst contacts the delivery service, for example, the USPS or UPS. Atstate 702, the list owner submits data indicative of the address list tothe delivery service, which is then in receipt of the address list fromthe list owner.

In one embodiment, at a state 704 the delivery service performs afiltering or validity check of the address list. In one example of avalidity check 704, the delivery service first submits the addressesthrough a known database, such as a change of address or delivery pointvalidation database, to ensure the address is correct. Addresses thatare found to be invalid are stored in a separate area of storage and areidentified to the list owner so that the list owner can correctincorrect information or delete the addresses from the list.

Next, at state 705, the delivery service applies a hashing algorithm, asdescribed previously, to the address list provided by the list owner,such that each of the hashed or virtual addresses corresponds to one ofthe addresses on the list submitted by the owner. In one embodiment, inorder to facilitate the hashing or encoding of addresses, the deliveryservice may allow certain address list owners to hash or encode theirown addresses. This entails the use of an approved encoding or hashingmethod. The hashed or encoded address results are then be communicatedto the delivery service, for example, the USPS, for inclusion into thepreferences database 106.

In one embodiment, the list owner may also choose to incorporate a codeinto the encoding or hashing. This code provides options to the listowners that may facilitate leveraging the list for monetary gain orensuring proper use of the addresses. Thus, in some embodiments, a listowner may use code incorporated into the encoding or hashing to trackmailings using the address list and to verify proper use of the addresslist. The code that is incorporated into the hashing or encoding processmay contain a delivery service internal code for service, for example, aUSPS code for privacy, a determined code for preferences, a private codeor company code. The code may be used to show the list owner,preferences, service requests, services or use limitations for theaddress, origination, and/or other security features. If the list owneruses an encoding or hashing process on his list, the resultant list ofhashed or encoded addresses is then be communicated to the deliveryservice along with the relevant requests for services. The deliveryservice then obtains a list of the encoded addresses, as discussedbelow, along with relevant add-on services that the delivery service isto perform.

At state 706, the delivery service filters the addresses sent by thelist owner based upon a database of preferences supplied by thecustomer/addressee. The filter may be based upon, for example, anexpected campaign by the owner, a location, a geographical area or otherinformation supplied by the customer. In this way the owner may receivea list of addressees back from the delivery service that is tailored tothe specific request. For instance, if the list owner wants to know whois interested in a certain topic or item, the owner sends the addressesto the delivery service (as outlined above at 702). At 706, the deliveryservice submits the addresses through the preferences database 106 tocorrelate the addresses from the owner's list to the specific criteriafor which the owner is seeking. The type of address returned by thedelivery service depends on the requirements of the list owner. Thedelivery service can return the virtual address that the customer has onrecord at the delivery service, for instance the USPS, if the customerso allows. The owner may also request certain services from the deliveryservice. These services are explained below and may be encompassed inthe hashed or encoded returned address.

Advancing to state 708, the delivery service then provides the list ofaddresses to the list owner. In one embodiment, the addresses are inplain form. In another embodiment, the addresses are in virtual formbased on the customer preference, hash form or encoded form. If a hashedor encoded form is used, the actual address of the person with thispreference is anonymous. The list owner will know that one or more ofhis customers lives in the specified area and is interested in thedesired subject matter, but he will not be able to identify whichcustomer. The owner of the list may then proceed to use the addresses asintended or needed.

In view of the above, one will appreciate that embodiments desirablyprovide one or more of the following features and advantages. Forexample, the system 100 can provide advantages such as enabling atrusted party, e.g., the United States Postal Service to manage and/ordirect the delivery or presentation of “customer-directed” hard copy andelectronic communications while protecting customer privacy.

It is to be recognized that depending on the embodiment, certain acts orevents of any of the methods described herein can be performed in adifferent sequence, may be added, merged, or left out all together. Notall described acts or events are necessary for the practice of themethod. Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events may beperformed concurrently, for example, through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors, rather than sequentially.

Those of skill will recognize that the various illustrative logicalblocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application and embodiment.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implementedor performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, acombination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processorcan read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC mayreside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and thestorage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features of the improvements as applied to variousembodiments, it will be understood that various omissions,substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the device orprocess illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. As will be recognized, thepresent invention may be embodied within a form that does not provideall of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features maybe used or practiced separately from others. The scope of the inventionis indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing items to be delivered, themethod comprising: receiving, in a system having a processor, a virtualaddress comprising data defined by a mail recipient that is other than aphysical address or a mailing address of the recipient; generating, by aprocessor, a first hash based on the virtual address; storing, in adatabase, the first hash; associating, by a processor, the first hashwith a delivery address; reading address information from a surface ofan item to be delivered; extracting, by a processor, the addressinginformation from the received item; generating, by a processor, a secondhash based on the read address information; searching, by a processor,the database using the second hash to identify a corresponding firsthash; determining, by a processor, a delivery address for the item to bedelivered, wherein the delivery destination for the item to be deliveredis the delivery address associated with the corresponding first hash;and applying indicia of the delivery address to the item to bedelivered.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first hashcomprises generating a cryptographic hash.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein generating the cryptographic hash comprises calculating a SHA-1value.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein reading address informationfrom a source associated with the item to be delivered comprises readingthe information using an optical reader.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein reading the information using an optical reader comprisesreading the information using an optical character recognition device.6. The method of claim 1, wherein applying indicia of the deliveryaddress to the item comprises applying a mailing label to the item,wherein the mailing label has displayed thereon indicia of the deliveryaddress of the item.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the deliveryaddress comprises one of a mailing address or a physical address.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the address information comprises data otherthan a name of an intended recipient of the item and other thangeographic indicia.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the addressinginformation comprises arbitrary character data defined by the intendedrecipient of the item.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the databasefurther comprises data indicative of delivery preferences associatedwith at least one category and the first hash.
 11. The method of claim10, further comprising: determining a category associated with the item;accessing delivery preferences for the first hash from the database; andproviding the item for delivery based on the delivery preferences. 12.The method of claim 10, wherein the delivery preferences includerequesting physical delivery.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein thedelivery preferences include requesting electronic delivery
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein mail is converted to electronic format priorto electronic delivery.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein a piece ofmail is converted to electronic format through scanning.
 16. A systemfor processing items to be delivered, the system comprising: anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising executableinstructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor toperform the steps of: receiving a virtual address comprising datadefined by a recipient that is other than a physical address or amailing address of the recipient; generating a first hash based on thevirtual address; storing, in a database, the first hash; associating, ina database, the first hash with a delivery address; reading addressinformation from an item to be delivered; generating a second hash basedon the read address information; searching the database using the secondhash to identify a corresponding first hash; determining a deliveryaddress for the item to be delivered, wherein the delivery address forthe item to be delivered is the delivery address associated with thecorresponding first hash; and applying indicia of the delivery addressto the item to be delivered.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein theprocessor is configured to generate the first hash by generating acryptographic hash.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor isconfigured to generate the first hash by calculating a SHA-1 value. 19.The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to read theaddress information from the item to be delivered using an opticalreader that images a surface of the item.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the processor is configured to read the address information byusing an optical character recognition device.
 21. The system of claim16, wherein the processor is configured to provide data for printing amailing label to be applied to the item, and wherein the mailing labelhas displayed thereon indicia of the delivery address associated withthe item.
 22. The system of claim 16, wherein the delivery addresscomprises one of a mailing address or a physical address.
 23. The systemof claim 16, wherein the address information comprises data other than aname of an intended recipient of the item and other than geographicindicia.
 24. The system of claim 16, wherein the address informationcomprises character data previously received from the intended recipientof the item.
 25. The system of claim 16, wherein the database furthercomprises data indicative of delivery preferences associated with atleast one category and the first hash.
 26. The system of claim 25,wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a categoryassociated with the item to be delivered; access delivery preferencesassociated with the first hash from the database; and provide deliveryinstructions for the item based on the delivery preferences.
 27. Asystem for processing items to be delivered, the system comprising: anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising executableinstructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor toperform the steps of: receiving a virtual address comprising datadefined by a recipient that is other than a physical address or amailing address of the recipient; generating a first hash based on thevirtual address; storing, in a database, the first hash; associating thefirst hash with delivery preference information; receiving an item to bedelivered having address information on a surface thereof; reading theaddress information from the surface of the item to be delivered;generating a second hash based the read address information; searchingthe database using the second hash to identify a corresponding firsthash; determining the delivery preference information for the item to bedelivered, wherein the delivery preference information for the item tobe delivered is the delivery preference information associated with thecorresponding first hash; and providing delivery instructions for theitem to be delivered based on the determined delivery preferenceinformation.
 28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: determine a category associated with the item tobe delivered; provide delivery instructions for the item to be deliveredbased on the determined delivery preference information and thedetermined category.
 29. The system of claim 27, wherein the determineddelivery preference information comprises geographically relateddelivery preference information.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein thedelivery preference information comprises geographically relateddelivery preference information.